All It Took Was An Article
by SomeStrangeDay
Summary: Harry Potter dies at the age of twenty right after defeating Voldemort, leaving the Wizarding World devastated. To the surprise of many, it's a heartfelt article that Rita Skeeter writes about him just after that makes the world change for Harry's sake.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

**Ok, when I planned on writing another one-shot I didn't plan on it being anything like this. But, I have found that I'm best at writing angst and tragedy and stuff like that. I don't even like Rita Skeeter, but then I decided to give her a break. Actually, when I started writing I didn't even expect her to come up in the story. Anyways, on with the story.**

Images flashed through his mind faster than he thought possible. There were happy images, frightening ones, gory ones. There were images of love and joy that were followed by images of death and grieving. Yet no matter the image that passed through Harry's head he couldn't bring himself to regret the decision he was making. All of the images only pushed Harry harder towards what he knew must be done, pushed him harder to kill Voldemort no matter the cost. If the price was his own life then so be it. His own life held little meaning to him nowadays anyway.

And why would his life mean anything to him? If anything he cared less about his own life than he used to. What with Bill and Luna and Seamus and Pavarti and so many others dead. Of course, that didn't even include the people that have **been** dead such as Sirius and Dumbledore and Remus and Mad-Eye. What had really sent him over the edge though, more than anything else that had happened to him since he'd turned eleven nine years ago, was when both Ron and Hermione had almost been killed two days earlier after they were both hit with thirteen stunning spells simultaneously.

And more than anything else that had made him tired. He was tired of the fighting. He was tired of people dying and he was tired of people getting hurt because of him. He was tired of Voldemort and he was tired of Death Eaters. He was tired of pain and loss. He was tired of using up all of his energy on something it seemed like he would never accomplish. Harry Potter was a tired man who wanted it all to be over.

He was so tired in fact that when he reached Voldemort and an assortment of Death Eaters he was happy that he died right after Voldemort did. Even though he would never see all of the Death Eaters imprisoned or see his friends when they were released from the hospital the next day, he was happy. Even though he had just left the Weasleys behind and he would never see Ginny or Neville or dean or any of them until they too died, he was happy. None of those things even mattered to him when he was finally, for the first time in a long time, no longer tired.

Three days after the death of Harry Potter and Voldemort, and the imprisonment of all of his Death Eaters, people were avidly mourning the loss of their hero. Though they were all overjoyed by the prospect of no longer being in constant danger not even that could overcome the loss they were all feeling. But the third day after Harry Potter's death something happened that made them all realize that if Harry saw them as they were he would be devastated. All it took was an article coming out in the Daily Prophet written by the one and only Rita Skeeter. At first, people were angry, thinking that the woman was going to degrade their hero. They were all surprised too see what the woman had to say about this man once they read the article though. The article read as thus:

_Dear readers,_

_You'll probably find the contents of this article very different than my others, but right now that doesn't matter to me. What does matter is the fact that we have lost a member of our community so important to al of us. I find that, for the first time since I started writing. I have nothing bad to say about the man I'm writing about. The things I may have earlier said about him no longer applied when I started really watching him._

_The man I'm talking about is a man who didn't want power or fame or riches, but he found himself with it anyways. He was a kind man who could give people hope like no one else could. From my years of watching him I have found that he has an amazing capacity to love and often puts others before himself. This was a man who was smart, with what should have been a long life ahead of him, and a good head on his shoulders. He could see the world in a way most others could not._

_He was a man who made many sacrifices in his life and saved as many peoples lives as he was capable of. He was stubborn and brave and could be incredibly blind to the truth at times. He's a man who saved many people, even quite a few that he did not like and one that he even hated. This man saved us all from more pain and suffering. He was a man that would be crushed to know the impact his death had on the wizarding world, and would have found a way to come back to help all of us even though by the end all he wanted was for all of it to end and it would probably mean leaving his family, wherever they are. He's a man I will always look up to._

_This man's name is Harry James Potter and he and his sacrifice never should, and never will be forgotten. _

**OK, even though it always pains me to see Harry die, I think it's what he deserves in this instance. And I don't mean that in a bed way. Anyway, REVIEW!**


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